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Watershed Watch Community Science
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Watershed Watch MethodsIntroduction & What is a Watershed?1 Quiz
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How Do I Collect Watershed Health Data?How to Measure Stream Chemistry?4 Topics1 Quiz
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What is an Benthic Macroinvertebrate, How to Sample, What do they tell us about Watershed Health?4 Topics1 Quiz
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How do we Measure the Health of Riparian Areas7 Topics1 Quiz
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How to Measure Streamflow?5 Topics1 Quiz
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How to I Turn My Data Into Action?How to organize and interpret my data and develop findings?
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How to make a community presentation with my findings?
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How write a watershed management plan?
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We Calibrate Because We Care! ~ How to maintain and calibrate equipment
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How can I find work in the field of watershed science?
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How can I influence policymakers and turn my data into action?
Time to Take a Closer Look!
Look in the ‘Materials’ tab to find the Watershed Watch Order Key!
Use the Watershed Watch Order Key to help identify the organisms and the Benthic Macroinvertebrate Sorting & Recording Sheet to document what you discover! Both are located in the ‘materials’ tab. Identify as much of the sample as possible. Tally the number of insects in each category at each station in a table. Use the calculations in the data interpretation section to develop findings about the condition of the benthic community and river that supports the critters.
This level of analysis provides a general idea of the richness of biodiversity of the benthic macroinvertebrate community. Key indicator insect groups include mayflies (Ephemeroptera), stoneflies (Plecoptera), and caddisflies (Tricoptera).